FAQ: Who is Worshipful Master Kenneth Noye?
Darth Simian
The life of Kenneth Noye has been one of malevolence and corruption.
It is an example of how someone eagerly embracing crime as a
profession can accumulate enormous wealth and frightening power.
Detectives untangling his network of corruption now believe that at
least one prominent MP was in his pay.
Such was the apprehension and nervousness created by the extent of
Noye's corruption of the police that during the investigation into
Stephen Cameron's murder officers were given around-the-clock
protection from their colleagues. Others changed their telephone
numbers. The Noye file on the case was restricted to less than a dozen
senior officers.
In 1977 after being arrested by Scotland Yard for receiving stolen
goods Noye joined the Hammersmith Freemason's Lodge in west London. He
was proposed and seconded by two Police Officers. He eventually rose
to be the Master of the Lodge with the support of the membership of
which the Police made up a sizeable proportion. Other Masons included
dealers in gold and other precious metals. A little while later Noye
was being helped out of an arrest by a detective who was a fellow
Mason.
One of Noye's police contacts was prepared to intervene on his behalf
not just with fellow officers, but other law agencies. The detective
approached a Customs officer investigating Noye in the early 80s and
pressured him to "lay off".
Kenneth James Noye (born 24 May 1947) is a British criminal who was
convicted of the 1996 murder of Stephen Cameron.
Noye was involved in laundering the proceeds of the Brinks Mat robbery
in 1983. While he was being investigated for his part in the robbery,
he stabbed to death police officer John Fordham who was observing Noye
from the grounds of his home. Noye was acquitted of murder on the
grounds of self-defence, but was sentenced to 14 years in prison in
1986 for handling stolen gold. He was released from prison in 1994,
having served 8 years of his sentence.
Two years later, in 1996, Noye became involved in an altercation with
21-year-old motorist Stephen Cameron on the M25 motorway during what
was described at the time as a road rage incident, but has also been
suggested to have been dispute over a drug deal, Cameron being a
small-
time drug dealer who owed Noye money. It however suited the purposes
of both the prosecution and the defence to not mention this during the
trial. During the fight, Noye stabbed and killed Cameron with a knife.
Noye immediately fled the country, sparking a massive police hunt. In
1998 he was tracked down in Spain, and Cameron's 17-year old
girlfriend Danielle Cable, who had witnessed the killing, was secretly
flown out to positively identify him. Despite the obvious risks
involved, she opted to testify against Noye, who at his trial in 2000
again pleaded self-defence. This time found guilty, he was convicted
of murder and given a life sentence.
Cable was given a new identity under the witness protection programme,
having been praised by police for her courage in giving evidence in
the presence of Noye and his associates. Another eyewitness, Alan
Decabral, declined protection and was shot dead in his car in Ashford,
Kent on 5 October 2000. However, police sources stated that he was
himself involved in drug and gun-smuggling, and that his death was
detrimental to Noye's forthcoming appeal, which would have
concentrated on discrediting him.
Noye was a police informant for many years, and he was also a
freemason, a member of the Hammersmith Lodge in London.
The trial judge at Noye's trial for murder did not make any
recommendation as to how long Noye should spend in prison, and it is
unknown whether the Home Secretary or Lord Chief Justice has ever set
a minimum term.
Noye failed to appeal against his conviction in 2001 and 2004. In 2007
he challenged the Criminal Cases Review Commission's decision not to
refer his case to the Appeal Court as "legally flawed".
On Friday 7 March 2008, Noye took another step toward a fresh legal
challenge, when Lord Justice Richards and Mrs Justice Swift granted
permission for a one-day judicial review hearing, covering the CCRC's
October 2006 decision not to send his case back to the court of
appeal. Giovanni Di Stefano is amongst those representing him.
--
Giuseppe Mazzini, a Thirty-Third Degree Mason, founded a group of
revolutionaries called Young Italy. Their goal was to free Italy from
the control of monarchy and the Pope. They succeeded, and Mazzini is
honored as a patriot in Italy. However, in the process, the Mafia was
born. The Young Italy revolutionaries needed money, and they:
"...supported themselves by robbing banks, looting or burning
businesses if protection money was not paid, and kidnapping for
ransom. Throughout Italy the word spread that "Mazzini autorizza
furti, incendi e attentati," meaning, 'Mazzini authorizes theft,
arson, and kidnapping.' This phrase was shortened to the acronym,
M.A.F.I.A. Organized crime was born." (John Daniel, "Scarlet and the
Beast," Vol. I., pages 330-331)